UK Foreign Office Accuses Syria of Purchasing Oil From ISIL

LONDON (Sputnik) — The United Kingdom Foreign Office issued statement Saturday welcoming the expansion of the European Union’s sanctions against Syria and accusing Syrian authorities of buying oil from the Islamic State terrorist group.

On Friday the European Union added seven individuals and six entities to its Syrian sanctions list bringing the total number of persons targeted by the restrictive measures to 218 and the number of companies – to 69. George Haswani, a Syrian-Greek businessman who allegedly acted as an oil middleman between Syrian authorities and ISIL, was among the individuals blacklisted on Friday.

“We are targeting developers, proliferators and users of chemical weapons, along with businessmen and companies supporting the brutal shabiha militias. We have also agreed to target individuals supplying oil to the regime, including George Haswani, a middleman buying oil from ISIL on behalf of the regime. This listing gives yet another indication that Assad’s ‘war’ on ISIL is a sham,” Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said, as cited in a statement published on the official website of the British government.

In 2011, anti-government protests erupted in Syria, later escalating into a civil war with government forces fighting against numerous rebel groups, including the Islamic State extremists. In May 2011 the European Union started imposing trade restrictions and sanctions against Syria, accusing Syrian President Bashar Assad of brutality against the civilians.

Islamic State currently controls vast territories in Syria. The group also seized several oil fields.